Safeties for firearms are provided in the prior art for various usage conditions and differing firearm trigger mechanisms. The primary purpose of the safety mechanism of this invention is to provide a safe trigger interlock on a rifle or shotgun with convenient and improved access for release when used for hunting and trap or skeet. Thus, the safety interlock can be left on for complete safety until game is observed or a clay target is about to be released. There is no known prior art safety assembly that sufficiently provides immediate and conveniently located access without use of the trigger finger. Thus for example with a hunting rifle, particularly in cold weather, a trigger finger may have to be maintained in an awkward position in a ready posture to operate the safety, thus exposing the finger to the cold. It is an object of this invention to provide a safety assembly that permits convenient operation while allowing the trigger finger to remain adjacent to the trigger in a ready posture.
Related safety mechanisms may be classified in two classes, namely axially movable bolt type action and rotary movement type action, this invention being of the latter type.
There are several deficiencies of prior art axially movable bolt type safety assemblies typified, for example, by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,458,616, T. L. Maynor, Jan. 11, 1949; 2,225,583, C. E. Blizard, Dec. 17, 1940; 3,713,242, P. Seifried, Jan. 30, 1973; and 2,856,718, J. F. Fischer, Oct. 21, 1958. As aforesaid the primary deficiency is inaccessibility and awkwardness for use in the instant that game or a clay target appears. Thus, these prior art safety assemblies require in most cases a release of the safety by the trigger finger before grasping the trigger, and thus a good shot may be delayed or missed entirely because of the sudden excitement that may make an awkward safety movement abortive.
Furthermore, many of these types of safety assemblies are subject to wear or deterioration particularly when softer plastic materials are used which are otherwise desirable to manufacture and to move within restricted spaces without lubrication, which changes viscosity with temperature. Thus, if a safety assembly rubs metal on metal and requires lubrication it may take a different greater force to operate on a cold day than a warm day and thus change operating conditions enough to interfere with a good first shot. On the other hand, a plastic self-lubricating movable member such as "Nylon" or equivalent materials may tend to wear or indent from impact of a metallic trigger whenever the impact surfaces are over a limited contact area. Thus, a laterally movable bolt type safety assembly may present a limited area of trigger to safety lock contact.
Typical rotary type safety assemblies are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,538,940, A. F. C. Henckel, Jan. 23, 1951; 3,397,474, J. A. Badali, Aug. 20, 1968; and 2,225,583, C. E. Blizard, Dec. 17, 1940, are also provided with mechanisms of limited contact area subject to wear, awkward hard to reach actuating means requiring a trigger finger to be manipulated to release the safety and construction techniques not adaptable for replacement of slide-bolt assemblies on existing firearms. It is a most important feature of the present invention for example, that it may replace directly a sliding bolt assembly as used on "Remington" or like available brand firearms, for example that of U.S. Pat. No. 2,225,583, and need not require the redesign of the firing and safety system of such firearms which are quite adequate in other respects than the above-identified problems.
Accordingly, it is one object of this invention to provide an improved rotary action safety assembly as an accessory feature that can be exchanged for sliding bolt type safety assemblies on available commercial firearms.